1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the general field of gaming and, more particularly, is a gaming tournament with a hierarchal structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To be successful, a casino""s property must be marketed to gamblers willing to spend their time and money at the casino. A widely used marketing strategy is to position the casino as a host to a gaming tournament, such as a blackjack, a poker or a slot machine tournament.
Participation in the tournament is conditioned upon payment of an entry fee into a pool from which a payout of a prize is made to a tournament winner. People who pay the entry fee are likely to have money to spend in the casino.
There are tournaments where the payout is in excess of a million dollars. A limitation of the one million dollar payout tournament is that the entry fee is frequently on the order of thousands of dollars. The one million dollar payout tournament is rare because the entry fee limits participation to the wealthiest players. Therefore, there is a need for a high payout tournament where a participant pays a generally affordable entry fee.
The high payout tournament with the generally affordable entry fee can be accomplished by having an increased number of tournament participants. Heretofore, there has not been a large payout tournament with the generally affordable entry fee.
An object of the present invention is a gaming tournament structured to have many participants.
Another object of the present invention is a gaming tournament structured to have multiple winners.
Another object of the present invention is a gaming tournament structured to provide a high payout to a winner.
Another object of the present invention is a high payout gaming tournament having a generally affordable entry fee.
According to the present invention, periodically, players pay an entry fee to compete in an entry level game of a tournament during a play period. At the end of the play period, a percentage of the entry fees is paid to a winner of the entry level game and a percentage of the entry fees is paid into a progressive account called a pyramid fund. The entry level game winner is given an opportunity to compete in a second level game of the tournament against other entry level game winners. A winner of the second level game receives a percentage of the pyramid fund and an opportunity to compete in a higher level game of the tournament against other second level game winners.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention should be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.